Finnish pre-school franchise Kipinä expanding to Vietnam

Kipinä, the fastest growing international preschool brand featuring an "Enhanced Finland" curriculum, will open 10 new Kipinä preschools throughout Vietnam in the next 3 years, in partnership with ILA Vietnam.

ILA Vietnam, one of the leading providers of 21st century English Language programs, has more than 43 centres across Vietnam employing over 800 teachers and delivering programs to 30,000+ students.

Kipinä has schools in 14 countries, mainly across the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe.

With this Vietnam roll-out, Kipinä marks the beginning of a planned expansion throughout India, Asian countries and China. This also brings Kipinä’s number of scheduled school openings to 42.

Häme University of Applied Sciences, the Finland university partner of Kipinä, will offer certified teacher training in Finnish Pedagogy through a special program for foreign teachers that it jointly developed with Kipinä.

Dzu Tran, CEO of ILA, said, “Finnish Early Childhood Education is not easily exportable. Kipinä substantially adapted the framework to suit environments and teachers outside Finland. Their approach to creating extensive resources and tools for teachers, combined with a practical approach to teacher training delivered online through Häme, and in local workshops, means we can deliver the best approach to educating children while ensuring sustainability and investing in our teachers.”

Kieran Galvin, Managing Director, Kipinä, stated, “Kipinä recognises the difficulties inherent in opening schools in new markets. It's why we work with experts like ILA who have more than 20 years experience in the sector.”

“While a lot of preschool franchisors turn their attention to the potentially lucrative US market, at Kipinä we prefer to work with innovators and disrupters in countries where the benefits of good quality education can make an enormous impact,” Galvin added.